SMART Goals: What They Are, How to Create Them & Examples

Setting goals is easy, but setting the right goals—ones that motivate and guide you to success—is challenging. This is where SMART goals come into play, offering a proven framework that transforms unclear objectives into actionable plans. If you’re looking to grow your business, understanding how to create SMART goals can be the difference between wishful thinking and actual achievement.

What Is a SMART Goal?

Creating a SMART goal follows five criteria—Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.

A SMART goal is a structured tool that follows five key criteria to ensure it’s clear, trackable, and achievable. The SMART acronym stands for the following:

Specific: The goals must be well-defined and clear about what you want to accomplish.
Measurable: You should be able to track progress and know when you’ve achieved the goal.
Achievable: The goal should be realistic and attainable given your resources and constraints.
Relevant: The goal should align with your broader objectives and be worthwhile to pursue.
Time-bound: There should be a clear deadline or timeframe for achieving the goal.

How to Create SMART Goals: Step-by-Step

Creating SMART goals requires thoughtful planning and attention to detail, but the process becomes straightforward when broken down into clear steps. Follow this systematic approach to transform your objectives into well-structured SMART goals.

1. Make Your Goals Specific

Before diving into details, you must clearly define exactly what you want to achieve. Answering these fundamental questions helps eliminate ambiguity and creates a solid foundation for your goal.

What do you want to accomplish?
Why is this goal important?
Who is involved?
Where will this take place?
Which resources or limitations must be considered?

For example, instead of “I want to learn a new language,” make it specific by saying, “I want to learn conversational Spanish to communicate with my clients, working with a tutor twice weekly at the local language center, focusing on business vocabulary and common phrases.”

2. Establish Measurable Criteria

Without measurement, it’s impossible to know if you’re making progress or have achieved your goal. Setting up clear metrics gives you concrete ways to track your journey and validate your success. To do this, you must do the following:

Identify quantities, amounts, or other measurable data points.
Determine how you’ll collect and track data.
Set specific milestones along the way.

Here’s an example:

Instead of writing, “I want to increase our social media presence,” make it measurable: “I want to grow our Instagram followers from 5,000 to 10,000 and achieve an average engagement rate of 5%, tracking weekly follower growth and engagement metrics through Instagram Analytics.”

3. Ensure It’s Achievable

While goals should stretch your capabilities. They must remain within the realm of possibility. This step helps you assess whether you have or can acquire the necessary resources and capabilities to achieve your goal.

Assess your available resources and capabilities.
Consider potential obstacles and how to overcome them.
Determine if you need additional skills or support.
Break down larger goals into smaller, manageable steps.

For example, don’t just say, “We must expand to international markets immediately.” Make it achievable by saying, “We will expand into two European markets over the next 18 months, starting with market research in Q1, establishing local partnerships in Q2, and launching operations in Germany by Q4, followed by France in Q2 of next year.”

4. Confirm It’s Relevant

A goal that doesn’t align with your broader objectives or current circumstances is unlikely to maintain your motivation or provide meaningful results. This step ensures your goal serves a purpose in your larger plans. Here’s how to do it:

Consider how it fits into your long-term plans.
Evaluate if the timing is right.
Ensure it’s worthwhile given current priorities.
Confirm it supports your other goals and responsibilities.

Here’s how you can make “We should adopt blockchain technology because it’s trending” relevant.

We will implement blockchain technology in our supply chain operations to reduce tracking errors by 50% and increase transparency for our customers, directly supporting our company’s digital transformation initiative and quality assurance goals.”

5. Set Time Parameters

Without deadlines, goals can drift indefinitely. Creating a clear timeline adds urgency and structure to your goal, helping you maintain focus and momentum throughout the process. Here are some tips when determining deadlines or timeframes:

Define the target completion date.
Establish intermediate deadlines for milestones.
Build in regular progress review points.
Allow for some flexibility while maintaining urgency.

With this point in mind, you don’t just write a goal that says, “We must upgrade our IT infrastructure.” Instead, it should be, “We will upgrade our IT infrastructure within 8 months, with cloud migration finished by month 3, staff training completed by month 5, and full system integration and testing done by month 7, ensuring minimal disruption to daily operations.”

Ready to turn your goals into achievements? Download our free SMART Goals template to track your progress effectively.

FILE TO DOWNLOAD OR INTEGRATE

Download as PDF

Download as Google Doc

Examples of SMART Goals

I outlined some SMART goals examples you can use to help you create your own and stay focused on what you’re trying to achieve. Practical application is the best way to truly understand how SMART goals are used in small businesses today. These examples show you how you might apply the process for your own business.

Sales: Increase Online Sales Revenue by 20% Within the Next 6 Months

The goal is to drive business growth, increase market share, and improve profitability. It’s crucial as consumer shopping continues to shift online, helping the company stay competitive in the digital marketplace.

We’re targeting a precise 20% increase in online sales revenue from your ecommerce platform. For example, if you’re currently at $100,000 monthly, then you’re aiming to hit $120,000 in monthly revenue—that’s an extra $20K per month we’re gunning for.

Track your progress using your ecommerce analytics dashboard by monitoring metrics like total revenue, average order value, conversion rates, and daily sales figures. We’re looking at monthly growth markers of about 3%-4% to stay on track toward that 20% target.

This 20% is ambitious but doable through a combo of tactics: optimizing your product pages, fine-tuning your email marketing campaigns, strategic paid advertising, and possibly introducing upsell opportunities. It breaks down to roughly $3,300 in additional revenue per month.

This revenue growth directly strengthens our market position and provides capital for future expansion. It aligns with our digital transformation strategy while meeting shareholder expectations for sustainable growth.

You’ve got a six-month deadline. Set up monthly milestones (like hitting at least 5% by month 2 and at least 10% by month 3) and weekly check-ins to make sure you’re trending in the right direction and can pivot if needed.

Did You Know? Using SMART goals leads to higher goal attainment and need satisfaction. According to a joint study conducted by the University of South Wales and University of Tehran that tested how effective SMART goals are in goal attainment, students who received the SMART goal instructions achieved their goals more compared with the participants who did not receive those specific instructions.

Customer Support: Improve Customer Satisfaction Scores From 80% to 95% by End of Q4 2025

Happy customers become repeat buyers and brand advocates. Higher satisfaction typically leads to better retention, more referrals, and reduced customer service costs. This ultimately affects long-term revenue and reputation.

We’re looking to boost customer satisfaction scores by 15 percentage points, moving from the current baseline of 80% to 95%. This means tracking every customer touchpoint, from initial contact to post-purchase support, with a focus on turning “satisfied” customers into “very satisfied” ones.

Success will be tracked through customer satisfaction (CSAT) surveys, NPS scores, and customer feedback metrics. Breaking it down, you need around 1.25% improvement each month over the next 12 months. We’ll monitor customer service response times, resolution rates, and repeat purchase behavior as leading indicators.

A 15% increase is ambitious but doable through targeted improvements, enhanced customer service training, streamlined support processes, reduced response times, and proactive customer outreach. We can aim for quick wins, like improving email response times in Q2 2025, and then tackle bigger projects, like implementing a new customer feedback system in Q4.

Higher satisfaction goals directly impact customer retention and reduce acquisition costs while driving organic growth through referrals. This improvement positions us as an industry leader in customer experience and supports our premium pricing strategy.

We’ve got until the end of Q4 2025 to hit our target. Let’s break it into quarterly goals:

Q1 2025: Reach 84%
Q2 2025: Hit 88%
Q3 2025: Achieve 92%
Q4 2025: Reach final goal of 95%

Want to transform your customer experience? Discover these proven strategies that have helped companies improve their customer satisfaction score.

Admin: Reduce Operating Costs by 15% Over the Next 12 Months

Improves profit margins without raising prices, making the company more competitive and resilient. Savings can be reinvested in growth initiatives or pressed to shareholders, strengthening the company’s financial health.

We’re targeting a 15% reduction in total operating costs across all departments. If your current monthly costs are, say $500,000, we’re aiming to reduce that to $425,000—that’s a monthly savings of $75,000. This includes areas like utilities, supply chain, labor, administrative expenses, and operational inefficiencies.

Progress will be tracked through monthly financial reports, departmental expense tracking, and cost center analysis. We’ll need about a 1.25% reduction each month to stay on target. Key metrics include the following:

Month-over-month expense comparison
Cost per unit/employee
Overhead ratio
Department-specific spending trends

The 15% reduction can be accomplished through multiple channels:

Renegotiating vendor contracts
Optimizing energy usage
Streamlining workflows
Reducing waste
Implementing automation where possible
Reviewing and adjusting staffing schedules

Cost reduction strengthens our competitive position by improving profit margins and creating financial flexibility. This enables us to invest in growth initiatives while building resilience against market fluctuations.

We have a 12-month deadline with quarterly milestones:

Q1: 4% reduction (focusing on quick wins)
Q2: Additional 4% (implementing process improvements)
Q3: Additional 4% (tracking structural changes)
Q4: Final 3% (fine-tuning and optimization)

Looking for goals related to HR, check these HR SMART Goals: Examples for Small Business HR Professionals for some tips and insights.

Do’s and Don’ts of Creating Smart Goals

Now that you have seen some SMART goals examples, we want to share with you the “do’s and don’ts” of setting SMART goals. This shortlist has examples of what others have done in the past that have impeded their ability to set successful SMART goals and execute them thoroughly.

Do’s and Don’ts table on the best practices when creating SMART goals (Source: FSB)

Additional Tips for Setting SMART Goals

There are strategies for getting your team on board with your SMART goals, which will make you more likely to be successful at implementing your goals. Keep these tips in mind while you’re considering your SMART business goals examples.

Get your team involved. People are more passionate about the goals they help create. Have your team brainstorm ideas and involve them in narrowing and selecting the goals they want to work on.
Make a plan of action. There should be specific goals for each step of the way. This is like making mini-SMART goals to help you reach your overall SMART goal.
Write it down. Every team member needs a copy of the plan with the big goal and the smaller goals. This helps everyone stay on track.
Evaluate. After every project, have everyone evaluate their own performance and the team’s performance as a whole. What was the goal? Did you achieve it? What went well? What went wrong? What could you have done better? What did you learn? What specific actions can you take to improve your performance in the future?
Reassess the goals as needed. As you work on a project, you might find that you need to change your plan or even adjust your broader SMART goal. Take time to make sure the plan you have is still in alignment with your overall goals and vision.
Use a performance management system. It can be hard to keep up with all the elements of goal setting and follow-up, especially in a large organization. A performance management system can help you keep track of everything.

According to the Center for Management & Organization Effectiveness, studies show that goal-setting teams enjoy 20%-25% improved performance. In addition, employees with goals are happier at work, less stressed, and more productive.

SMART Goals Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

The ideal timeframe for a SMART goal varies depending on the scope and complexity of what you’re trying to achieve.

Short-term goals typically span one to three months and are perfect for immediate objectives or building momentum.
Medium-term goals usually range from three to twelve months, allowing for more substantial achievements.
Long-term goals can extend from one to five years and are suitable for major life or business objectives.

Regardless of the overall timeframe, it’s crucial to break down your goals into smaller milestones that you can track and celebrate along the way.

When you’re falling short of your SMART goal targets, it’s essential to approach the situation with a problem-solving mindset rather than viewing it as a failure. Start by conducting a thorough analysis of what isn’t working and whether the initial goal was realistically set. Identify specific obstacles that are impeding your progress and consider whether timeline adjustments might be necessary.

Most experts recommend focusing on two to three major SMART goals at any given time to maintain focus and prevent overwhelm. Working on too many goals simultaneously can dilute your efforts and reduce your effectiveness.

SMART Goals: What They Are, How to Create Them & Examples

What Is a SMART Goal?